This book is like spicy Hallmark Christmas movie made into a book. I really enjoyed listening to this book, narrated by Isabelle Turner. The book starts out in Birdie Mae’s past when she was a child. Her history with Santa’s past is definitely colored. Her Apology Tour was hilarious. Her running into her past, Nick, was fun and their interactions were definitely interesting. If you’re looking for a fun, holiday, for adults only book then this is a great one to listen to.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for the opportunity to listen to this book.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was wonderful! I loved her different voices and tones. The story was a novella so short, sweet and spicy! Perfect for a quick read that is still well written and enjoyable.

All the Christmas vibes in this book and a silver fox Santa Look alike! Love all the cozy small town vibes in this story. I found it fun, light hearted and funny. I did not know Santa Spice was a thing!

Audiobook is perfectly narrated by Isabelle Turner. She did a great job brining the feelings and emotions to this story. She did a great job voicing the male characters too.

Loved this one last year when I read the ebook, and jumped at the chance to listen! The narration really brought the story to life and did a great job overall. No complaints here! Only wish this was a longer book (I know, I know Christmas novellas are great too) but I would love to see these characters again!

4.5 stars. I love Christmas novellas. I love Julie Olivia. I love an audiobook in my ears when I’m in my office to keep me company. This was a perfect combo of all three to welcome me back to work post-vacation.

Isabelle Turner did a great job with the narration. She had great emotion, inflection, and timing for the humorous moments. Her pitch for the Nic and other male voices was well done and not in any way distracting as can sometimes happen for me. I thoroughly enjoyed her performance.

As for the story, it was a great mix of emotion, comedy, and slow-burn heat. Birdie Mae was delightfully quirky and endearing with an interesting backstory. The way it influenced her Santa…fixation and the subsequent apologies she felt compelled to deliver took something that could’ve been surface level silly and gave it depth. Nic’s role in everything and the way their relationship developed was very sweet to me. The two of them also had great chemistry and banter.

Thank you to Pen Pal PR and Julie Olivia for the ALC!

3.5 rounded to 4 stars.

Ugh I just love Julie's writing style, I've only read one other book by her but I always feel a sense of home with her books. They're comforting and just feel so nostalgic. This book was unlike any other holiday read I've read and I really loved the whole storyline. Super holiday packed from start to finish, with a little dash of spice in between to keep things interesting. The banter was so good and I just thought it overall was so funny. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is because it just felt a little slow and while I know this is a novella I just felt it took a while to get to the overall ending. Still a good fun read, read it if you're looking for something to read for Christmas and get you in the spirit.

The Fake Santa Apology Tour is the perfect holiday treat! It's a quick, delightful, - but spicy read. Julie's way with words never fails to impress. The story of Nick and Birdie Mae is perfectly genuine.

The audiobook is easy to follow & the narrator is fantastic. I breezed through it in under a day!

Make room for it on your Christmas TBR!

I don’t usually venture into age gap romances, but I’m glad I tried this holiday themed one. It was pretty quirky and cute. Even though the MCs know one another from their past, I wouldn’t call it a second chance romance— that implies that there was an inappropriate romance or attraction between them, which there was not. To be honest, the description had me on my toes, expecting something gross and inappropriate. I’m glad it never came, but I think I would’ve enjoyed the book more if I hadn’t seen the book description implying a “rekindled” flame.

Narration was nicely done and kept me engaged. Overall, worth picking up if you’re looking for a quick holiday read that’s a bit silly but touches on some serious issues.

Birdie Mae is really into guys who play Santa and it’s become kind of her thing. She dates them, but never for long, but when Nicholas Ryan, an attractive silver fox who looks an awful lot like Santa enters her life again after twenty years he is the exact distraction she doesn’t need. Will Birdie and Nicholas be able to fight the attraction between them or will they give into the desire that is hard to deny?

At this time of year I’m especially in the mood for a fun holiday romance and the cover and description for this book fit that bill. This was a very quick romance read which was nice and the storyline was fun, but it wasn’t the type of book I’d remember and be raving about for years to come. It was a solid romance read and had some fun unique elements, but the whole ‘Santa’ romance thing didn’t do it for me. Overall it was still a fun holiday romance read, but not the type I’ll likely remember by next year. If you are looking for a fun, quick romance to help pass the time before the holidays this one might be for you, especially if you’re into Santa.

I was not able to view this on the Netgalley app. I only use Audible so not sure how this works. I have read Julie Olivia books before and loved them.

Silver-fox Santa

Audiobook:

Isabelle Turner-This was my first audiobook narrated by her. She has a great voice, she does a great job at voice inflections and is clear to hear at standard as well as increased speeds.

I would definitely listen to her again.

The Fake Santa Apology Tour:

I loved the true holiday family dynamics, hometown visit and Birdie Mae has a special spice for Santas. She had such a type engrained. I found myself immersed in her POV of telling her story waiting to see where we were going.

I don’t know if the scent of pine and peppermint will ever not make me think of Nicholas Ryan now. Seduced by Santa in a very open door delivery. On Santa, On Spicy…

I received a free copy of this book from Julie Olivia and Dreamscape Select. I am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions are my own.

Julie Olivia's books are a hoot and this is no exception.
A quick Christmas listen about a woman who has a type and a bit of a curse

Funny and lighthearted, a good christmas short story to inspire you for this season.

It's a spicy, lovely, rom-com with a very funny plot, she believes she is cursed on Christmas and years later ends up being rescued by the person she believed cursed her. The story goes from there where she goes on an apologie tour that is more of a redemption on her life before.

The narration was really good and I enjoyed every second of this short story.

For the short story that it is, it delivered everything I hoped for, so it's an easy 5 stars on keeping me entertained and in the Christmas spirit.

Cute Christmas novella! I didn't know what to expect from title, but it wasn't this and I loved it. It starts out with little birdie may trying to deliver her letter to Santa when she gets caught and the elf decides to help her. He ends up telling her that she will end up hating Christmas and she does, He is now known as her Christmas curse it was never the same after that day. Fast forward 20 years later She is a successful writer who writes romance books about Santa, and she only dates fake Santa's. After finding herself on her annual writing trip after breaking up she runs into this bartender who looks like Santa who turns out to be Nick the curse bringer of '99. After realizing who he was she wants to stay far away but gets snowed in. When they were younger, she renewed his faith in Christmas he wants to do this for her one Santa at a time.

Cute christmas book. Birdie Mae wanted a Furby when she was younger and believed in Santa. She ran into this boy who ruined Christmas for her. After that, she seemed to have a "relationship" each Christmas with a fake santa. Until one day, she encounters that same boy from her childhood and sparks fly!

I didn't know quite what to expect when I started this book, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Anyone who has ever looked at a silver fox of a man and gotten the warm fuzzies all over will appreciate this story. I definitely laughed out loud quite a few times, but this story did come with an underlying serious story at its backbone. This was a fun listen with a wonderful happily ever after. 2/5 spice

Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just finished this audio book this morning and it’s a perfect quick listen for this season
Though definitely toeing the line of finding yourself on the naughty list by listening.

This woman takes loving a silver fox to the next level.
Did I know Santa spice was a thing? Nope.
As I mad at it? Apparently, also nope!

3 ☆
Birdie Mae has a thing for Santa! Most of her short-term relationships are with good-looking Santas. They say the spirit of Christmas finds you on holiday vacations. Then Birdie Mae runs into Nick, a man she hasn't seen in twenty years and never wanted to see again. Except now he's her hot bartender, complete with a silver-fox beard, a twinkle in his eye, and looking a lot like her kryptonite: a jingle-belling Santa Claus. It's five days until Christmas, and she's stuck in a snowy town straight out of a Hallmark movie.

The cover art and the interesting fact that she dates Santa Claus during the holiday season! This book was just okay. Nothing special; it wasn't amazing, but at the same time, it wasn't bad. It was just missing something. The good thing is it does give you the holiday feels and Hallmark vibes.

The audiobook was good! The narrator did a great job. Her male voice was good, and when she switched characters, I didn't get confused about who was talking.
• Slow-Burn
• Christmas Novella

Thank you, Netgellay, and Dreamscape Select for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒐𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎, 𝑩𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒌𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆 @𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒕𝒂_𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌’𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

This was adorable! I loved Birdie Mae and Nicholas. the banter was good and i enjoyed their moments of realization and coming together even under the strange circumstances. Isabelle Turner, the narrator, did a really good job at capturing both Nicholas and Birdie Mae.

the premise of this story was super cute, Birdie Mae thinking Christmas is cursed by her past St Nicholas, the cute older elf at the mall. years later, Birdie is still angry with him and now collects santa boyfriends around the holidays and writes spicy santa romances. only to take a writing retreat and coming face to face with said curse giver and newly developed -- hes a HOT SANTA look alike!! for it being a novella, there was growth and character break throughs which i loved.

sweet and simple holiday romance with hot santas.

This is a super cute Christmas story. A perfect novella for the holiday season and a perfect standalone.

The banter is so much fun between Birdie Mae and Nic.

This is a chance encounter while they were younger, that changed their lives. And a second chance that brings them back together.

Isabelle Turner did a wonderful job narrating the book.

Thank you to @penpalpr for this gifted eALC. A perfect holiday treat.

-Holiday romcom
-Cozy, snowy small town
-Age gap
-Forced proximity
-Opposites attract
-Hallmark vibes